Emulsifier, mixer, and the like



EMULSIFIER, MIXER, AND THE LIKE f/ l @f c. '5. H. SNQW l 1,571,32

INVENTQR;

July `22, 1930.h

C. S. H. SNOW EMULSIFIER, MIX-ER, AND THE LIKE Filed Nov. l, 1928 2Sheets-Sheet 2 :NVENTQR: a, @hb/M L fw Attorney. v

y This invention relates to Patented July 22,

PA'rENr CHARLES STEWART HASTINGS SNUW, 0l' CROYDON, ENGLND.

EmULsrrIEn, nr'xatr., AND' THE LIKE Application led- November 1, 1928,Serial No. 316,548, and in Great Britain November 10, 1927.

emulsifiers, mixers andthe like, and according thereto the devicecomprises an emulsifyin or mixing head having relatively rotatab emembers provided with co-acting circular projections' and grooves, oneor more of the said relatively rotatable members having a centralaperture to allow free access of the mixture to the centre of theemulsifyingor mixing head, the said emulsifying or mixing head beingarranged in a container to receive a charge of the mixture to be treatedand the arran ement being such that the mixture is lngrorfmixing headand so on.

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cause by centrifugal force to follow a sinuous path through the head inthe form of a thin film passing out at the peri hery of the head intothe body of the charge rom whence .it passes back to the centre of theemulsifyath traversed by the film may be of non-un1form Vthickness ashereinafter described and means may be provided whereby freshairL theamount of which maybe 'regulated, is automatically drawn into thecontainer during the operation. Further, means may be provided whereby,instead ofjdrawing fresh air into the container, the air supply mayk becut oli:` and the air in the contamer arranged to circulate.

The rotating member; may, if desired, be provided with impeller bladesto force the mixture between the relatively rotatable members.4

In order that this invention may be the more clearly' understood andreadily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the same withreference to the not of limitation one vention.

accompanying drawings, which illustrate by way of example and convenientconstructional formof this invention, and in which Figurexl issubstantially a central vertical section of an emulsifier according'tothis in- Fgure 2 is asection on line. 2.-2'of Fig- .pan View @f therotor, and plan view of the lower half 0f the stator- AReferring tothedrawings, the emulsilier v 'illustrated therein comprises a container amanner conveniently which is mounted on feet b and is provided with acover plate c which carries the whole of the operating mechanism.

The cover plate c' is held in position on the container in any suitablewa such, for example, as by means of clamping bolts, but I have foundone very convenient means to be that shown in Figure 1 of theaccompanying drawings. In this form I provide a rubber or like resilientring d having three of any other suitable number of inwardly projectingtabs d1 through which ass bolts d2 carried by projections d8 on an-shaped annular ringd* which is thus adapted to take around two sides ofthe rubber ring d. The bolts d2 pass through holes in the cover plate cand are provided at their free ends with -Wing nuts d". The ring d* isof slightly less 'diameter than the neck of the container a soV that itmay be readily placed therein. It will be obvious that by screwing upthe wing nuts d the annular ring d* will be caused to approach, thuscompressing the rubber ring d and causing the same to expand against theinside of the container a whereb the cover plate is 4firmly held inposition. n order to remove the cover plate, 1t is, of course, merelynecessary to slacken oil the wing nuts d* when the rubber ring d willcontract and the cover` plate may be readily removed. The cover, plateis adapted to carry the whole of the operating mechanism, as previouslystated, andto this end is provided at its centre with a sleeve c whichscrews into the same and rejects downwardly into the container a w enthe device' is assembled.

Withinthis sleeve is arranged the main operatin shaft e. A The shaft eis driven b any suitab e mechanism at a hi h speed. Y drawings -I haveillustrate an electric motor e2' for driving theshaft e. The motor e* ismounted on the cover plate c in any suitable `by being secured to ayplate e which is spaced above the -cover plate c by means of spacers eand bolts e'.

The sleeve c is open tothe air at its upper end and in order to preventany oil, dirt, dust, etc., from entering the container throughthesleeveo', a disc c is secured to y the spindle e just above the mouth of the100 the n,

sleeve c2 in order to throw all oil or thelike away from the mouth ofthe sleeve c2 on to the cover c, due to the centrifugal force. The coverc is, as shown, sloped away from the mouth of the sleeve in order todrain all oil, etc., away from the mouth ofthe sleeve c2.

To the lower end of the shaft e is secured the rotor which is shown insection in Figure 1 and in plan in Figure 3. This rotor comprises ametal plate f provided at its centre4 Witha boss f1 internallyscrew-threaded so that it can be screwed on to the reduced portion c1 ofthe shaft e and clamped in position by a nut e as shown. The plate f isprovided near its centre with four, or any other suitable number, curvedimpeller blades f2, the shape of which wilt be readily a preciated fromFigures 1, 2 and 3. Outsi e the impeller blades are arranged theconcentric annular projections f3 and grooves f4, these projections, aswell as the impeller blades, being arranged on both sides of the plate fas will readily be appreciated on reference to Figure 1. Y

Above and below the rotor are arranged the two stator plates g, gl whichare of identical form and are. dished slightly at their centres toreceive they impeller blades f2 and are provided outside this dishedportion with a plurality of concentric projections `g,1 and grooves g?to co-act with the grooves' f* and the projections f3 respectively, aswill be seen from'Figure 1. The upper plate g is fixed to the lower endof the sleeve c2 which is apertured as at e3 to allow free. access tothe l emulsifying head. To the lower plate g is secured a tube g3 inorder that mixture may be fed to the bottom of the yemulsiier headv andthis tube'g3 is provided with a transverse web g* t'o form a bearing forthe reduced end of the spindle e. The lipper and lower plates g, g? aresecured together by means of bolts is such that there is a fine cle.tween the 4stator and the rotor, say,of the g5 and wing nuts g",spacing sleeves g being arranged around the bolts g5 in order to'spacethe stator plates at the required distance apart. The length of the spaing sleeves g7 rance left beorder often to twenty thousandths of avinch.

It will be obvious that due to the c -acting projections and groovesthemixture in passing through the fine clearance provided will be causedto ollowa somewhat sinuous path.

By adjusting the len th of the sleeves g7 the thickness of the pat whichthe mixture follows can rbe varied. In the embodiment shown the path isof equalthicknessthroughout, but` by slightly reducing the length of thesleeves, the tops of the projections canv be made to approach moreclosely to thebottom of the co-acting grooves so -that the'clearancebetween the sidesof the coacting projections and grooves is greater thanthe clearance between the top of the 'one part and the bottom of trojection. on'. e groove ont` the other part. Thus, by means of thevco'nstruction according to this invention, not only will a slightinaccurac in the bearings be allowable, but in additlon, by adjustingthe length of the sleeves g', as above described, the mixture ma besubjected to alternate compression an expansion invits passage throughthe emulsifier head.

Delector wings or plates 7' are provided above the emulsiier head as andfor the purpose hereinafter explained.

The container a may be provided with handles a1 whereby the same may belifted, and is also provided-with an outlet a2 near the bottomcontrolled by a'cock a3. The

upper portion of the container is further provided with an air outlet a*closed by .a cap a5. -If it is desired to draw fresh air into themixture to be emulsified, the cap a*s is unscrewed and then air will bedrawn down the sleeve c2- and after passage through the emulsifier headwill pass out of the a1r outlet a. On the other hand, if it is desiredto obtain a circulation of air in the container, the cap a5 is screwedon and a sleeve c* operated. This sleeve c* is arranged around thesleeve c2 and is provided with apertures c5, so that by rotating thesleeve c3 by means of a knurled ring c8 provided thereon, the aperturesc5 may be madeto register or not with apertures c" on the sleeve c2 onthe hit-and miss principle. If the apertures cls do not register withthe-'apertures c", then air will bedrawn down the sleeve c2 and afterpassing through the emulsiier head, will pass out of the air outlet a*as will be readily undergive a final product of the desired consistencyj.,

andl cream content. The cover plateis then "ns replaced, whereby theemulsier head becomes immersed in the material. When the impeller isrotated at high speed either by the motor or by the hand gear, as thecase may b, the substance is churned u by the rotor, anddue to therotation, wi form a whirlpool at the centre whereby air will be suckedin throu h the tube.V Of course, a similar whirlpoo will be formed atthe-bottom of the impeller so that the material Vis continuously suckedinto the centre of thel impellet above yand below, Here it is met .bythe rapidy rotating blades f1 and thoroughl mixed. he mixture is thusAforced throug the ne'cleara'nce between the rotor and the 130 ,astat1onarydi'scs'g,g and is'subjectedto a' great l las- , treatedwhereby eiiicient emulsifcation is obtained.

The mixture after passing through the line j space passes out to thecontainer and swirls such size and soto l around the outside of theemulsifier head. If

the s eed of rotation of the mixture approac es the speed of rotation ofthe impeller, mixture may not be fed to the centre ofthe impeller. Inorder to' avoid any chance of this happening, I provide means forinterrupting the` orbital action of the mixture expelled from theemulsifier head. Such means may comprise the two or more deflectorplates to interrupt the swirling motion of the mixture, and thesedeilector lates may, if desired, be arranged to de ect the streamofmixture to the'centre of the impeller.

The constant feeding of the mixture into lthe centre of the impellerabove and below and the high turbulence of the mixture together with thethorough aeration due to the sucking of the air into the containerthrough the sleeve c2 results in a thorough and even4 emulsification ofthemixture and also allA chance of local emulsilication is avoided.

The sleeve c forms a valve to control the How .of air down the sleeve c.

' If desired more than one emulsifier head may be .provided in thecontainer.

A ain, the emulsifier head may comprise one isc cofacting with a platecorresponding to the surface. of the impeller.

' It is preferred to make the container' a of head that the emulsi erhead is arranged at about the centre ofthe material to be emulsified ormixed. v

If desired, the container a maybe pro` vided .with a lip instead of thecock a, by

-means of which the contents thereof may be the mixture to be treatedand the arrangement being s uch that the mixture is caused by.centrifugal force to follow a sinuous path through the head inthe formof a thin film passing out at the periphery of the head into the body ofthe charge from whence it passes back to the centre of the emulsifyingor mixing head and Aso on, substantially as described. A l 2. Anemulsilier, mixer or the like, according to claim 1, in which the pathtraversed by the film is ofnonuni form thickness, substantially asdescribed. l

3. An emulsiier, mixerv or the like, as claimed in claim 1, includingimpeller blades to assist in forcing the mixture between the relativelyrotatable members, substantially as described. i

4. An emulsiier, mixer or the like, as claimed in claim 1, includingmeans for automatically drawing a regulated amount of fresh air into thecontainer during the op-A eration and for the purpose specified.

5. An emulsifier, mixer or the like, as claimed in claim 1, includingmeans for interrupting the orbital action\of`the mixture `expelled fromthe emulsifying or mixing head.

In testimony whereof Il have -signed my name to this specification.

CHARLES STEWART IIASTINGS SNO'.

osition the emulsiferf A Accordingy to a modification, one of the.contiguous ces'between which the material passes maebe plain. f. 1 j yIt will a preciated that th'eabove described emulsiger 'will onlyemulsify a 'given' quantity of material at one time, but, 1f desined, itmay be arranged as a` continuousv emulsier by continuously feedingthema-v terial thereto.

'Iclaimz- 1. An emulsilier, mixer or the like, comprisin an emulsifyinor mixing head hav- 1n re atively rotatab e members each prov i edwith'co-acting circular projections and grooves', oneor..more ofthe saidrelatively vrotatable'members having a central a rture to allow freeaccess of theinixtnre' tot 'e cen? tre of the emulsifying or had, the."1

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